Any realistic scenario for Mississippi State beating No. 1 Georgia would have included an advantage in turnovers and at least 1 big play from the special teams.

State intercepted Stetson Bennett twice and returned a punt for a touchdown.

Still, the upset didn’t happen Saturday night at Davis Wade Stadium. In fact it never came close to happening.

Those big plays on defense and special teams couldn’t make the difference, because Georgia was better on nearly all of the other plays. Way better.

Despite the interceptions Bennett was better than Will Rogers, throwing 3 touchdown passes compared to 1 by to Rogers.

Georgia was much better at gaining yards on offense and being stingy on defense. Instead of elevating the underdog to an upset victory, the interceptions by Collin Duncan and Tyrus Wheat and Zavion Thomas’ 63-yard punt return just seconds before halftime merely prevented an even more dominant victory for the visitors. Though the 45-19 outcome was still pretty dominant.

In order to pull off the upset State was going to have to at least come close to matching Georgia’s total yardage and be balanced in doing so. Or at least what passes for balance in coach Mike Leach’s pass-heavy offense.

That didn’t happen.

Georgia gained 468 total yards and State gained 308. Georgia had 289 passing yards and State had 261 even though State threw 15 more passes.

If State was going to pull off the upset it was going to have to possess the ball more than Georgia did and ideally finish with possession time not too far from 40 minutes.

That didn’t happen.

Georgia rushed for 179 yards and State rushed for 47, which played a big role in the winners possessing the ball for 31 minutes, 46 seconds while the losers possessed it for just 29:14.

Still, State put itself in a good position in the waning moments of the first half.

Bennett had a touchdown pass and a touchdown run as Georgia opened 17-3 lead late in the second quarter and looked poised to methodically pull away.

Then Rogers quickly drove State to Massimo Biscardi’s 36-yard field goal with 51 seconds left in the half.

Then Georgia gave State a boost.

Bennett had a 7-yard completion and 2 incompletions, leaving 19 seconds on the clock as Georgia punted.

Brett Thorson’s punt traveled just 36 yards and Thomas took advantage with his touchdown return.

With 2 quick scores, State had gotten a lift that its offense had been unable to provide.

Leach, not satisfied with 9 points in 48 seconds or presumably with a 4-point deficit after a 1st half in which his team was clearly outplayed, decided to chase an added point and went for 2. It failed.

Still a 17-12 halftime deficit left the upset very much in play.

But on the 2nd play of the 3rd quarter Ladd McConkey ran 70 yards for a Georgia touchdown. Less than 5 minutes later McConkey caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Bennett and it was a 31-12 deficit for State.

Before the quarter was through Rogers connected with Rufus Harvey from 6 yards for the offense’s only touchdown of the game.

Georgia added 2 more touchdowns in the 4th quarter and it was officially in the SEC Championship game against LSU.

As for State it’s now 6-4 and 3-4 with the home finale against East Tennessee State next week preceding the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving night.

The disparity in the records for Georgia (10-0, 7-0) and State as well as in the final score demonstrates that an upset was never very realistic even though 2 interceptions and a punt return for a touchdown provided what could have been critical ingredients.

But it’s the talent disparity between the 2 programs that prevented State from having the type of play-in and play-out competitiveness necessary to have a chance against the 2021 national champions and favorites to be the 2022 national champions.

Leach was asked after the game about how his program can catch up to Georgia’s.

“First of all,” he said, “I think I’ll ask every other team in the nation that’s below them what their thoughts are.”